Govt's Covid-19 Data Face Major Public Distrust: Charta Politika Survey

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A survey by Charta Politika Indonesia showed that 43.3 percent of respondents do not believe the data on Covid-19 mitigation issued by the government. This type of data is deemed to be the biggest homework the government needs to overcome.

"53.1 percent have strong beliefs and believe [in them] and 43.3 percent disbelief and extremely disregard [the data]," said Charta Politika Indonesia executive director Yunarto Wijaya in a press release on August 12, 2021. 

There was 3.7 percent of respondents who refused to answer or were indecisive. The survey involves 1,200 respondents with a +2,83 percent margin of error and 95 percent level of confidence.

According to Yunarto, the issue of trust is a crucial aspect during the Covid-19 pandemic mitigation because the government's programs needed to overcome the pandemic will not commence successfully without public trust. 

"When the public believed that the data that the government provides, trust can eventually be built. When trust is gained, other variables such as testing, tracing, can be conducted," said Yunarto.

The recent public discourse questions the government's decision to erase the Covid-19 deaths from the daily statistics, which used to be reported on a daily basis. The government said a mistake has happened in the data accumulation but assures that the death toll is not required to be erased. 

"Why not fix the data reporting system," said Yunarto who mentioned Brazil and the United States as the two countries that once faced a situation where its citizens' trust against its government had deteriorated after governments played down data on Covid-19.

EGI ADYATAMA